This week’s selection of garden highlights for Six on Saturday is another summer scorcher.
The new rose bed is colourful – all the roses planted out a few months ago are now in flower. I can see them from the kitchen window and the view is delightful.
My lovely husband has set up the garden cinema screen, and we’ve had a few screenings over the past few weeks, including watching ‘Midsomer’ at Midsummer, which was pretty magical, and a showing of ‘Hot Fuzz,’ which is full of local landmarks as it was filmed nearby at Wells. We had cornetto ice cream while watching Hot Fuzz.
The ‘horsey border’ is looking a bit chaotic and wonderfully colourful. The hoe on the lawn demonstrates ongoing efforts to establish some order. It’s too hot to garden for most of the day, so the bindweed and brambles are making advances across the borders while we wilt.
There’s a pink flower in the pond that is particularly eyecatching – google lens says its known as ‘obedient plant’ which is a peculiar name for a flower.
We planted French Marigolds that we bought at a bargain price from Barters, one of my favourite local garden stores. We got few more flowers to fill gaps in the pots and borders. As well as dozen marigolds, we got a couple of dahlia and a whirling butterflies gaura.
It’s another heatwave, and our lawn is crusty and dry. The washing’s on the line and I’ll be out of the sun trying to stay cool for the next few hours.
After work yesterday, we popped out to our favourite local spot to cool down, The George at Nunney, a pub with a beer garden by a stream, where we sat under a weeping willow and watched the ducklings go by. We chatted about ‘climate adaption,’ the long term viability of having a lawn, and planting more trees to get more shade. This spot under the tree by the river is the coolest place I know of around here.
Whether you’re a sun bunny soaking up the sunshine or a cool cat staying shady, I hope you have a lovely week,
Jen xx
Ah, the wagtails at the George! I raise a glass of accidental (don’t ask) Tasmanian pinot noir to you. I think i prefer the obedient plant’s other name of Virginal Dragon’s Head … and the roses are so fabulous! xx
I love the idea of the outdoor cinema although I’m not sure our neighbours would appreciate it quite so much!
Climate change is definitely a thing, no matter what the deniers may say.
That all sounds blissful, especially the pub bit! I do love a marigold.
Obedient plant is not an odd name at all. You can push the individual blooms so that they face a different direction and they will stay that way (probably not forever, but for a good while). I do not have it in my garden as it requires more moisture than I can provide and it is a bit of a thug, spreading by rhizomes. Great if you have a large area to fill in. I came across it at a rest area while driving across the state and I could not resist pushing some blooms around. Native to North America, there are several species of Physostegia native to southeastern states and a couple native to my area. I think only P virginiana is referred to as “Obedient Plant” here and I do not know if the other species are “obedient”. The pink flower stock by the pond is not P vriginiana, so don’t break off the flowers trying to make them obedient! Haha!
Lots of people around here are doing away with their lawns. I do not water mine. If there is drought, I let it go dormant. If it were up to me, I would get rid most of the backyard lawn in favor of more native plants, but it is difficult if one has children or dogs that will want to be able to play in the yard. I have neither, but the spousal unit like to have a lawn even though he only mows it. He does not use it…
Obedient plant is an old fashioned perennial that I have not seen since about 1990, and it was already old fashioned then. It can alternatively bloom white.
I’m wondering if Google got it wrong and it’s a pale form of loosestrife, which would be more at home in a pond.
I have obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana) in my yard. It loves being near water but it will thrive most anywhere. It is a thug but is limited to sunny areas.